Shobhaa De: ‘I’d like to do an extremely provocative and wicked book’

You wrote the book to mark your 75th birthday. Why a book?

I wish I could write poetry. Poetry attracts me in a deeper way. But I don’t have the skill. I can’t do ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill’ kind of rhyming. Forget about writing poetry that’s soul-stirring. I could have painted my feelings. I am not too bad at it but it would have required a certain kind of discipline. Maybe I can still do it for myself as self-expression. However, writing, for me, is everything. When I write, I feel I am in control of my emotional, intellectual and physical space.

What came first – the idea of book on foods or the book’s title?

This food book is quite different from what I have written before. I wanted to write a similar book 15 years ago. The spirit was the same behind it. At that times, my editor did not think it was the best idea.

With Insatiable, we get glimpses of your family and social life. Were you trying to document it?

It was so organic and unplanned – like stream of consciousness. The idea was to mark the 75th year using the format of 12 months rather than going back and forth about my life. I want people, especially the younger generation. to read me. But I was aware that their attention spans is limited. I wanted the book to be accessible. Inclusion of personal details was not a decision I took consciously. But how could I exclude the most intimate parts of my life — my family and close friends — in those 12 months. Who do you share food with? Your family. Food also became predominant during the pandemic — we were craving it. Think of the trend of making Dalgona coffee or banana bread.

“It was so organic and unplanned – like stream of consciousness,” Shobhaa De on Insatiable

You’ve quoted actor Helen Mirren saying: “Your 40s are good. Your 50s are great. Your 60s are fab. And 70 is f*@king awesome”. Do you live by this?

Being in the 70s is extraordinarily liberating. For my mother’s generation, stepping into the 70s had different implications. But I am talking about women like myself who had the chance to do something with their life professionally. Who had a working life for over 50 years. I have never hit ‘pause’. I continue to write, but differently. There are no constraints of any kind or emotional binds that inhibit me.

My husband and I took off to South America which our children thought was foolhardy. But it was a fantastic trip to Brazil and Argentina. Today, I don’t care about a lot of things that would have pre-occupied me earlier.

What kind of stories would you like to tell next?

I don’t plan books or have game-plans. At the moment I am toying with two wonderful book offers. Both are very challenging but at the moment I am sitting pretty. I don’t know when I would write another book. I would definitely like to do an extremely provocative and wicked book. It is brewing in my head but not fully formulated yet.

Do you think provocative writing in missing in India?

Oh yes. It is so tedious being politically correct or aligned. Everyone is taking a certain position. Your acolytes tell you how wonderful and brave that is. The joy of writing is in creating something that’s like a trigger — as the French call it in being an ‘agent provocateur’.

Are are impressed with the celebrity books that are being published today?

Most of these books have nothing to say. I like the idea of subversion but a lot of publishers are nervous about backing such books. Insatiable is deliberately apolitical, barring a couple of jokes and asides. In this day and age, it is not worth it to make a political statement. I am not Salman Rushdie and I don’t want a bullet in my head. I do find him so courageous. He spent years being on the run because of a fatwa which had no meaning then and even less now. With the environment being what it is, I would rather ride it out. Political parties and powers do have a shelf life. But writers don’t vanish.

What’s missing in the books written by or about celebrities?

There is definitely a voracious interest among readers across the world to know about the lives of celebrities. An Unsuitable Boy, which is Karan Johar’s autobiography and was published under Shobhaa De imprint, is an honest book. Most of the times, fluff or a sanitised version of someone’s life passes off as memoir. I loved Naseeruddin Shah’s memoir, And Then One Day.

“If Uorfi Javed decides to do her biography, I would rush to publish it”.

In the end, the bucks stops with the person who chooses to go public with his/her life. It is up to them how much they wish to share. They don’t necessarily have to do a full Monty or sensationalise aspects of their life. Also, I feel strongly about one thing: If the person you are discussing, be it an old adversary or former lover, is not around to defend themselves, then it’s not kosher at all to talk about them.

Whose story would you like to read?

If Uorfi Javed decides to do her biography, I would rush to publish it. There is a story there that interests me provided she tells it the way it should be told. Ditto with Rakhi Sawant. Both these women represent change and upheaval in our society.

In India, it is comparatively a new genre. Even our interviews are whitewashed and sanitised. Most of them are vapid and vain accounts of a life not worth reading about. There is no merit, not even in terms of great writing. It can be a witty take about oneself — if you decide to take your pants off yourself, do it stylishly — one can reads it for the language skills. But not if it’s a parade of one’s achievements or the movies they acted in. Or, when it is about a childhood that’s not terribly exciting.

How do you at your position as a ‘columnist’?

Well, every society through the ages had chroniclers in some form or the other. I take seriously and responsibly the space I am given in publications by editors. I better be able to defend what I write. I have been invested in every single column that I have written. I am not a self-indulgent writer and do keep in mind that the audience for my various columns are different.

How do you take criticism?

My one mantra for it: diffuse, diffuse, diffuse. It stings. But it’s more like an ant-bite not a snakebite. I don’t let it get to me, especially if I know where it’s coming from. I don’t believe in retaliation. It’s a democracy. Like the cliché goes: ‘If you can’t stand the heat, don’t get into the kitchen’. No one likes criticism, but one can learn from it. No matter how personal the attack maybe, there is always a takeaway.

Are you considering other forms of storytelling?

Definitely, yes. Even when I am physically not writing, the stories come to me. It is very natural, like torrential rain. There are other avenues I would love to look at such as streamers. Scripting based on my books could be exciting.